The subject invention relates to the automatic testing of electronic equipment and more specifically to a method and apparatus for evaluating the performance of electronic equipment.
The prior art approach to the automatic testing of electronic equipment has generally utilized a general purpose digital computer programmed by means of punched cards, magnetic tape, or the like, with information relative to the selection of one of a plurality of waveform generators, the interconnections between the selected waveform generator and an output terminal to which the equipment to be tested is connected, and the selective interconnection of the output terminal to one of a plurality of evaluation circuits for evaluation of the waveforms generated in the electronic equipment in response to the application of the waveforms applied. Systems of this type are inherently limited by the number of different waveform or function generators and by the number of different evaluation circuits provided. As the electronic systems to be tested grow in complexity, the number of function generators and the number of evaluation circuits also increase, resulting in larger and larger, and correspondingly more expensive, test installations.
It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus for the automatic checkout, or testing, of electronic equipment which obviates the necessity for large numbers of function generators and evaluation circuits. This object is accomplished by programming a general purpose digital computer both for numeric waveform generation and for the evaluation of the response waveforms generated by the equipment tested.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel method and apparatus for the utilization of a general purpose digital computer to fully integrate all of the functional electronics in the automatic testing of electronic equipment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus with infinite expansion possibilities both as to measurement and the stimulation of the equipment to be tested with a relatively small increase in test equipment, and which minimizes the expense of test labor costs through faster testing with fewer people.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel method and apparatus for utilizing a general purpose digital computer to control all system sequencing; signal interfacing; power application to the unit under test; control of peripheral components such as printers, memory and assorted display units; responsive waveform processing without special hardware; and the evaluation of the response waveforms against limits for the appropriate unit to be tested.